A Huge Thank You: 400 followers and future plans

I noticed a few days ago that the number of followers of this Blog has ticked around to just over 400. I just wanted to take the time to say a huge thank you to every single follower, commenter and reader who's supported the Blog over the years. 

I really am very grateful indeed to every one of you for sharing the hobby with me.  When I started blogging in 2010 I thought it might be a bit of a solitary pastime. But not at all. It's been a gateway to a terrific community, full of ideas and friendship - thank you all for making it such fun!   I'm not sure I offer anything new at all - I think every idea I've posted on the Blog has been adapted and modified from things that other people have pioneered.  But I have really enjoyed jumbling those ideas about and coming up with gaming ideas which have been fun wargame with, and which are (fingers crossed!) also enjoyable to read!  

And hopefully you can continue to enjoy the hobby with me going forward in the future.

And any mention of "The Future" for a wargamer tends to lead to thoughts of elaborate and ambitious plans. As I rule, I really don't really like predicting or announcing what I'm going to do. One of my favourite quotes comes from something Tears of Envy posted a while back on her blog from Victorian philanthropist Henry Wellcome: "Never tell anyone what you propose to do until you have done it". Sound, prudent advice. Which I am about to ignore (no doubt at my peril).

I like reading wargamers' plans and targets, not least because they always seem to have that feel of excitement and expectation about them. So, with that backdrop, here's mine for the next 3 or 4 months:

As you know, I'm still working through a series of posts on painting French late war infantry, with a few more Verdun-related and French-Great-War book reviews to come. After that, I'll post the French support weapons and artillery (some very nice models to model and paint from Brigade Games and Scarab), with some "hardened" veteran infantry and Tirailleurs Sénégalese bringing up the rear.  I'll also try and find a more Gallic-ised banner for this Blog (something I've been meaning to do for what seems like forever!)

That probably takes me up until July, at which point I'm looking forward to modelling and painting a French armoured Escadre from the Groupe D'Artillerie Spéciale at Berry-au-Bac, at the opening of the Nivelle Offensive in April 1917. It's been a while since I tackled tanks on the painting table, and I'm keen to get back to weathering oil stains and rust! 

Alongside the front line troops, I'm hoping to do some French command stands and a short series of French vignettes, including a couple of well-known wartime personalities, a distinctive Parisian air and some French Trench Loot (matching the British Trench Loot I did a while back).

On the writing side I shall be posting some more Verdun and French related book reviews, which I think people seem to have enjoyed (at least they've told me so!). There's a couple of Verdun scenarios for "Through the Mud & the Blood" (which are written but not play-tested), and also a feature to be posted on creating French "Grandes Hommes" for "Through the Mud and the Blood" which is half-written but also needs play-testing. Finally on the writing front, and to accompany the Escadre from the Groupe D'Artillerie Spéciale, there's something I'd like to post this summer about recreating French Great War tank tactics on the tabletop - this would be a short article, pretty much along the lines of the "Rolling Into Action" article I prepared for the TooFatLardies Christmas Special in 2011.

I'm hoping to round-off the Verdun Project with a few game reports and AARs, together with an AAR of the "Verdun: A Lost Generation" boardgame from Against the Odds - probably in the summer when I can get my boardgaming chums over for a weekend. 

I think doing much more than finishing the French in 2013 may be a tall order. But once I've finished the French, I'll hopefully make a start on Lord Strathcona's Horse from Moreuil Wood in 1918.

Hopefully you can join me some, or even all, of these! Best regards and thanks until then, mes braves!